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Pinot Throw Down for West Coast Snoothers 2013

So we have some interest in having a West Coast meet-up (or you can call it a throw-down) for Pinot. Here's my opening proposal: We'll do it very close to the Oakland Airport, to save those who are traveling in from out of town (like Emark and JonDerry) from having extra travel if they want to fly. This would give LuchaVino a chance to attend to, or our friends from up in British Columbia. Or we can go partway and do it in Carmel if folks from down south want to drive.

My suggestion for a time would be around Veteran's Day in case anyone gets that time off. I'm open to other times as well. I can't do Columbus Day weekend (who gets that off? Public servants like me... and I plan to be in Napa that weekend) but later in October could work. I have a couple ideas for the restaurant (we can even do it at my home, but it could be kind of tight).

Basic structure would be that each couple or participant brings one to two bottles of Pinot. We should try to have representatives of Santa Rita Hills, Santa Lucia Highlands, RRV, Sonoma Coast "The True," Anderson Valley, Oregon and Burgundy. All the better if we can get Sta Ynez, Carneros and maybe split the Burgundy into Cote de Beaune and Cote de Nuits. I can provide the SLH (Roar) and Anderson (Toulouse or Goldeneye) pretty easily, also Sonoma and Burgundy if necessary (I think OT and JD respectively have better holdings in those areas). I can also step aside on some of those and kick in Carneros or Oregon.

It would be cool if we could time it for one of GdP's trips, too.

Send me any ideas and please, let me know if you are interested even if I didn't mention you.

Replies

Yay, I'm excited! Fox, I sent you a PM about a potential candidate, but I'm good with whatever, as long as I have time to get something shipped or pick it up locally. p.s. Fox, I loved your profile statement, lol.

Okay, we're getting close indeed. Some of you have received final orders.

Chances are looking good for a winemaker attending, although the identity will remain a secret for a while longer. We'll also be joined by a wine P.R. person who represents about four or five of the top Pinot makers out here--we're very lucky indeed to have her. If I mentioned the wineries she represented, you'd be agape-- famous Pinot labels, cab labels, even a top producer from Priorat.

I've got to hear back from one more potential participant, then the final instructions go out. I'm thinking JenniferT will have to be a gametime decision, and anyone coming from Canada gets a pass on bringing wine or can do whatever they like, but we're sending smoke signals to a certain female scientist. You know who you are.

I'm sad to say that I think I am going to have to bow out on this one.

I had actually made a final decision to attend, and things were pretty much set because I had also arranged for time off work.

Then I got a offered some work on another project, which could be pretty lucrative for me. I rescheduled my time off for later November and now I'm 99.9% sure I'll be away working on that project in late october. I usually don't have weekends off when I work on a project, either.

I did get a few days as a surprise b-day break trip in Vegas - I'm in Vegas right now, as a matter of fact!! So maybe I can find some interesting wine to report back on, at a time when I'm not too inebriated to actually pay attention to it. I'm flying back tomorrow, and planning to go out of province for work on the aforementioned project the following day.

I'm quite sorry, but I had to make work a priority on this one. I will have to settle for attending in spirit, lol! I really hope that I can attend a get together at a future date.

Okay, we'll soldier on without JenniferT and NG, but they will be sorry. Just got word from my friend who is arranging the winemaker. It's a huge pot-sweetener--name to be revealed within a couple days, but looks like a biggie. Here are some of their vineyard sources:

Okay, assignments just went out to LingProf, Emark and Mrs Emark, OT, JD and GdP. If you got directions to my house, there is one correction: The porch is to the right side of the house. (Which is the west side of the house.)

Thanks for the note w/ the lodging recommendations, Fox. I'll probably rely on my navigation system to find my way to your adobe. I plan to hand carry my contributions. So, you won't have to have keep the crow's nest manned and on the lookout.

Regarding the identity of the secret celebrity, does he work for Siduri?

How sexist of me. Why do I assume it's a "he." If he doesn't work for Siduri, does she work for Siduri?

Not Adam Lee. Not Hudson or any of the ones OT mentioned. It's either the sub-label of one of Coach K's faves (I just had breakfast with one of his former players, a national champ team) or a two-name Pinot specialist. Dang, this is fun!

A little hint: My friend who is in wine PR is arranging this. The wine maker is male but the PR person is female. She reps a Cab maker who wants to prevent their location from becoming an AVA. I've alluded to this elsewhere. She's planning on attending, too.

Ignore all the smarty pants and just have a good time, Emark. Meanwhile, rest your livers, guys, cause there's gonna be wine, lots of wine.

For anyone staying in downtown Oakland, you may see people in running shoes and costumes. Don't worry, it's just Hellaween, a 5k run around Old Oakland starting at 4:30. It's not supposed to snarl traffic too much and should not affect visiting Dashe, JC, Rock Wall, or 2 Mile wineries and will definitely not affect parking or traffic at my house. It will pass Urban Legend winery and cause parking issues there, and it will swamp Linden Street Brewery--the runners get to stop there for beer! (For those who don't know, an Oaklander has proposed that the 10 to the 27 prefix be called the "hella." So, for instance, the universe is 1.4 hellameters wide. The odds that you and I match DNA at 19 independent loci is about one in one hellion. Kinda cool.)

After reading you your post, my response was, pretty much, the same as OT's. I did check out your link, and that squared me away. Thanks for the cultural update.

By any chance did you follow the link to the LA Times article? I'm not sure, but a Snoother may have been quoted there.

As for slang in scientific terminology, at least one linguist says right on.

"Anything that takes vernacular speech and treats it well — gives it its props — is fine with me," said <name deleted to preserve anonymity>, a professor at Pitzer College in Claremont. In a Facebook posting, a friend of <name deleted to preserve anonymity> related the regional pride he felt on overhearing a Berkeley teenager use "hella": "I nodded and smiled and thought to myself, 'Keep the torch lit, my young friend.' "

My contributions shipped today...all of the planning and second guessing can pretty much be laid to rest. None of these wines show in my CT cellar, by the way.

I blinded the bottles so even Fox may be in the dark. On that thought Fox, for that bottle that's to be slow ox'd the day of the event, it'll take some extra effort because I believe the cork is branded.